Whispers of Doom

"I have pierced the veil of the future and beheld only... oblivion. Yet one spark of hope remains. You will hold her life in your hands...And though justice demands that she die for her crimes, only she can save us."

As the Second Great War approached, he learned of a prophecy foretelling the return of the xel'naga. He discovered it lay on Ulaan and journeyed there aboard Void Seeker. The world held a number of xel'naga shrines, each holding a fragment of the prophecy. The dark templar sought them out.[3]

Sarah Kerrigan was also drawn to the world in search of the prophecy and had arrived before the prelate. Zeratul discovered an ancient carving but heard a small noise and investigated. He was ambushed by several hydralisks, which he quickly decimated. Kerrigan then laughed at him as she expected his arrival. The two sparred, verbally and physically. Zeratul severed the Queen of Blades' left wing, although it promptly regenerated. Kerrigan already knew enough to believe the future was without hope. The dark templar prelate disagreed and slipped away to find his own answers.[4]

The prophecy's fragments were held in three shrines. Zeratul made his way past zerg sentries to the first shrine. While on route to the second shrine,the prelate was unexpectedly joined by stalkers. From them he learned PraetorKarass, a high templar, and his troops were on Ulaan in pursuit of Kerrigan. Through growing indications of infestation, Zeratul reached the second shrine and then rendezvoused with the protoss force, and told the high templar of Kerrigan's objective to discover the prophecy. Karass pledged to help Zeratul. The protoss broke through stiffening zerg resistance and recovered the final fragment. However, there was little time to contemplate its meaning. They were soon beset upon by superior zerg forces led by Kerrigan.[3]

Plot branch : Karass survives to reach the last shrine

Karass convinced Zeratul to escape with the fragments; the high templar and his troops would buy the prelate time with their lives.

Plot branch ends here

Zeratul abandoned his brethren only reluctantly and vowed their sacrifice would not be in vain. Void Seeker was already under attack as he fled. The prelate boarded his ship and departed the planet.[3]

The starting force consists only of Zeratul. He is permanently cloaked with a powerful attack, and the abilities Blink and Void Prison, the latter disabling a unit for a period of time and not allowing detectors to sense Zeratul while trapped. On higher difficulty levels the player will encounter ultralisks and brood lords more frequently, stun them with Zeratul's Void Prison as they are very dangerous to the small number of units the player commands.

The path to the first shrine is simple, a few detectors lie along the way and can be incapacitated with Void Prison to allow Zeratul to pass safely. Shortly after the first shrine is reached Zeratul is attacked by scourge and mutalisks, and four stalkers appear to defend him. Use Void Prison to stun a mutalisk and Blink weakened stalkers away to minimize the damage done to them. The path to the second shrine contains more detectors with air units including brood lords. Shortly after Zeratul warns of an aerial attack, prompting several mutalisks assault the band with a handful of ground units including possibly an ultralisk. Before the attack stalkers will appear if the player has less than four, and after the attack more stalkers appear to give the player five. After this the first hatchery comes into view, patrolling by overseers and guarded by spine crawlers and possibly mutalisks depending on the difficulty level. Stun the spine crawlers with Void Prison to destroy them, then destroy the hatchery and mutalisks. The second shrine is not far away.

The next group of enemies consists of fliers with an overseer and spine crawlers. Use Zeratul to lure the fliers away from the spine crawlers, then destroy them with stalkers while stunning any potential brood lords with Void Prison. Then kill the overseer and use Zeratul to destroy the spine crawlers. On higher difficulties an ultralisk may unburrow above this area, draw it out and stun it with Void Prison first so it doesn't surprise you later. Up the ramp afterwards banelings will attack the player. Move Zeratul out of the way and have him hold position so the banelings do not accidentally kill him, then destroy them from range with the stalkers from the central outcrop. When the banelings come closer, Blink across the chasm and continue firing, if needed run from then until Blink's cooldown ends then Blink back to the outcrop. The second hatchery is nearby, in the lower-left over a chasm. It is defended by ultralisks. The continuing path to the final shrine is relatively simple, save for a handful of burrowed zerg.

After joining up with Karass, use Zeratul to Void Prison the brood lords and ultralisks while providing cover fire with stalkers. When the first wave of zerg die, Karass and his zealots will move on to a cluster of spine crawlers. Several nydus worms emerge at this point, move the stalkers to the nearby high ground to destroy them and press on to the third shrine. The third hatchery is on a ledge, Blink onto the cliff at the lower-left part of the area to find the hatchery beyond some destructible rocks. After the third shrine is reached, Zeratul must flee to the Void Seeker within two minutes. Leave destroyable rocks intact to hamper pursuing zerg; Blink over instead. Unless the player is trying to get the achievement for saving them the stalkers are expendable, if needed leave them behind to distract the zerg while Zeratul escapes.